Empty Promises
by KyosBeads13
Summary: “You aren’t there to make me feel safe anymore, Maes. I’ll have to do it on my own.” A fic following Roy Mustang's day in which Maes Hughes was killed. He knew he shouldn't have let him go, but it was too late. HughesXRoy fluff. One Shot


I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or its characters. ((Although, owning Hughes might be nice…))

**Empty Promises**

The scratching of pen to paper lulled into the office as easily as the sun light through the windows. No doubt it was going to be another ordinary day filled with absolutely nothing to do but boring paper work. Signing his name in black ink, Mustang dropped his pen and sighed while resting his chin on his hand and tapping the desk top with his free finger tips. Letting the soft coo of the clock on his left carry him closer to a small doze, he let his guard down, his head falling closer to the desk top.

"Yo, Roy!" With a start, Mustang nearly fell out of his chair shooting up out of his comfortable state as his office door slammed into the wall behind it. Before getting a chance to glare at the man who had startled him, he took the opportunity to scold the Lieutenant who failed to follow through with her job.

"I thought I told you to keep everyone out until I finished my paper work." Roy grumbled while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Meaning of course, him!"

"I apologize, Colonel." Hawkeye passed quietly.

"Don't be so hard on her, I'm sure you could have used a break!" The still chipper man piped in while walking into the room further.

"Hughes, shouldn't you be doing something? Anything?" He glared.

"I am doing something! I found something in one of my files that I thought you could use." Finally regaining a little composure, Roy sat down.

"Well, let's see it."

Hughes walked to the desk, passing a small piece of paper over the table top with a smile, making Mustang believe that he had finally found something important. Flipping the paper over, his face dropped a bit more.

"I found a double of Elisia's little portraits so you can have one too! Isn't that just wonderful, Roy? Now you can look at her too." The proud father beamed.

"Hughes." Mustang snarled.

"All right, all right I did come here to discuss some important things." Maes said looking back at Hawkeye. Roy dismissed her and waited until the door was shut in order to begin talking.

"This sure as hell better not be another one of your damned photo albums."

"No, sadly you've seen them all." Hughes said in an upbeat voice. "I think I'm going to do some research tonight. I spoke with Ed while I was at the hospital the other day and he had some pretty interesting things to say."

"Fullmetal's in the hospital?"

"Yeah… I might have forgotten to mention it on the phone." Receiving another glare, Hughes pushed his glasses up and sighed. "In my defense that was the day I called you about Elisia's birthday. Anyone would have made the mistake." He said keeping the fact that Edward had been in the hospital for quite a few days now to himself.

"What did he say to make you want to do any research?" Roy asked getting more comfortable in his chair by slouching down. Maes looked from the door back to his friend and walked to his side of the desk. He sat on the top with his arms crossed, lowering his voice to a mere mumble.

"He said something about people with similar tattoos who are causing a lot of problems. I'm not quite sure what that means but that's what I hope to figure out tonight." The Colonel sat back up, grabbing Hughes' jacket pulling him forward towards him. "So here's why you wanted everyone out of the room." Maes smiled slightly at his joking tone.

"Now's not the time," Mustang said with a hint of embarrassment in the back of his voice while letting go of his jacket. "You know what's going on, don't you?"

"Not completely." He replied bluntly. "But I do know that this could be something big. What with all those mysterious deaths going on around Central, this might be the answer. So, just watch yourself until then."

"You're telling me to watch myself when you're the one diving head first into it, Maes." Mustang didn't like the possibilities of where the situation was going. He was right that there may be a connection with these people Ed had seen but if Hughes was sticking his nose into places it didn't belong, who was to say that he wouldn't suffer the same fate as the other Alchemists that had met their demise? "You best watch yourself and who finds out about this." He said putting emphasis on 'yourself.' The Lieutenant Colonel stood up from his sitting position from the desk and crouched down in front of the younger man.

"You sound more like a wife every day, Roy." He smirked deviously. Mustang merely blushed and looked away.

"I-is that all?" It was more comfortable to stare at the book shelf; no eyes were there to taunt him.

"That and I was figuring we could get some food before I go do this thing tonight. I have to stop at home to tell Gracia and Elisia I'll be out." The conversation becoming a bit less awkward, Mustang looked back at his friend who was making his way towards the door. "I'll be in the hall this evening if you want." Throwing a casual wink over his shoulder before strolling out the door, Hughes left Mustang quietly to do the rest of his paper work. Picking up the pen, Roy sighed.

"Idiot." He mumbled before feeling another blush emerge onto his cheeks.

It was about seven before Mustang was finally able to leave the confinement of his office. Walking down the hallway, the night-time shift of people were all making their way into work, offering friendly salutes and salutations. Although strongly considering walking out the door and into the parking lot to go home, Roy pushed himself towards the dining hall. He had to admit, even though he was an idiot, Hughes was still his best friend. And as much as he didn't want to say it, he still had a stack of paper work to do once he ate dinner and it might do him some good to stay out of his office for a while. Turning into the room filled with empty tables sat Hughes, who turned around upon Mustang's entrance.

"Glad you decided to join me." The man said rather loudly while patting the bare seat next to him. Roy rolled his eyes and plopped down while taking off his military jacket and throwing it over the chair. The light above the table flickered slightly, making the setting sunlight from outside more appreciated. "You didn't bring any dinner?"

"To be perfectly honest I didn't think I'd be here this late." Hughes frowned while pulling two long objects out of the bag next to him.

"Well, I brought one for you too." He said while taking a bite of his sandwich. Pulling his own sandwich closer to him, Mustang took a smaller bite.

"Thanks," he muttered while the other man nodded. "When I'm Führer, I won't ever have to be here this late again." The Colonel kicked his legs up on the table while leaning back in his chair slightly.

"You'll have more on your shoulders at home, though." Maes pointed out.

"You do know in order to help me to the top you're going to have to actually make me want the job." Getting a laugh, Mustang dropped his feet back to the floor. "So, what did you want me here for?"

"I was just thinking about if something happens when I start looking these things up." The older of the two men didn't look away from his food despite the look of concern that the younger shot him. "I mean, the people killed had to be doing something to antagonize their death. And by what I'm going to do tonight, I'll be doing the same thing. So I'm just trying to plan ahead. Once I figure this out I'm going to have to take it slow and easy and stay out of the open. After all, I'm going to have to tell the higher ups about anything I find. But if word gets out as to who told them, that could be bad news for me and my family and I don't want that to happen. It could even be bad for you." Mustang felt a knot in his stomach.

"Hughes…"

"But hey, I'm probably worrying for nothing." For the first time, Roy began to think about what would happen to him if Maes was gone from the military and had to shake the thought from his head. "Here, I stopped by the store on the way back. I picked you up one too." Hughes slid a beer over to him and smiled. Drinking outside the bar at Central was strictly prohibited, but then again who was there to see them? Opening and lifting the can to his lips, the beer brought back memories. It was the same kind that the two shared together back during the war. The texture uplifted the feeling of the heat that had always surrounded them in the darkest nights when Roy couldn't handle his actions any longer. Many nights the Colonel found himself crawling to Maes' tent to talk and most of the time to cry over what had happened. Maes had not only managed to comfort him each time but made him feel like there could still be a little salvation in times of absolute terror. It got to the point where Mustang found himself hating whenever Hughes would talk about his girlfriend back home, wishing that he would just stop. It might have been the desperation of needing a companion but he began to think of Maes as much more than a friend, which began to scare him. He was suddenly a dog, always by his master's side and begging to be touched.

'How appropriate, a dog of the military I really am.' He thought to himself as he smiled against the rim of the can. He must have spent an awfully long time daydreaming because Hughes was cleaning up his garbage along with his own. Finishing his can, Roy stood up, grabbing his jacket and tossing it over his shoulder. He followed to the garbage can casually tossing his beer can in after the bag that had already been thrown away and walked side by side with Hughes.

"Well, I suppose I should let you get back to work." The Lieutenant Colonel announced.

"And I guess you have some research to do." Mustang said quietly thinking about the fears that his friend had. Hughes nodded and turned around to walk to the library, something in Roy making him call out to his friend. "Hughes, wait." Turning to face where the call came from, the younger man sighed. "Be careful, okay?" Hughes laughed a bit.

"There you go, acting like a wife again." While blushing, the Colonel felt a pair of arms around his shoulders, pushing him towards his best friend. "I'll be fine." He said to him quietly into his ear in a whisper. Feeling himself shiver, Mustang couldn't bring his arms up to return the hug and merely nodded. Hughes let go and smiled one of his trade mark, toothy smiles before walking down the hallway, leaving Roy feeling more alone and cold than he ever had in his life.

Mustang's vision had begun to go blurry around nine that night before he figured enough was enough and he could stop the work for the day. He leaned back in his chair a bit before a light knock came at his door.

"Come in." He said loud enough for the person to hear. The woman in charge of the phones stuck her head in.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is on the phone for you, Colonel." Roy sighed.

'Probably about how adorable his daughter looked asleep when he got home.' He thought to himself in slight annoyance. He entered the phone room and picked up the phone.

"Hughes? What is it this time?" Silence. "Hughes?" There was no answer just more silence. "Hughes are you there? Answer me, damn it!" The phone clicked dead. Roy's heart slammed into his chest as he looked at the receiver in his shaking hand. He ran out of the room to ask where the phone call had come from.

The sun was shining a little bit too much that day; it should have been cloudy and raining to match the mood of the gathering. Mustang kept his eyes on the ground in front of him as the casket was lowered into the grave with the soundtrack of Elisia's wails and cries. The whole ceremony passed by the man in a blur. He was still stuck in the night before when he found out that Hughes really had been killed as he walked down the halls where Hughes' blood stained not only the walls but the floor as well, where he fell out of the room. The smell of metallic blood filled his senses as he felt his stomach turn with bile. Just the memory of the sight made Mustang's throat close slightly as he choked down saliva painfully. He looked back up to see the completely filled in grave and everyone heading back to their sleek black cars. Armstrong and Hawkeye were the last remaining with him.

"I'll wait in the car." The Major said quietly while Riza nodded her head. Mustang felt his tears slip out of the corner of his eyes as the Lieutenant made her way next to him.

"Are you alright?" Roy refused eye contact.

"It's just… Starting to rain." He passed to her quietly. It took her a moment to comprehend just what he said before her own tears fell a bit as well.

"I'll be with Major Armstrong in the car when you're ready, Sir." She replied, giving his shoulder a slight squeeze before walking out of the cemetery to the car. Mustang waited until he could no longer hear her foot steps before bringing his gloved hand up to dry off his face in a shaky breath.

"You promised me that you would be okay," he said quietly. "Damn it Hughes!" Roy was angry at many things but nothing topped the fact he was lied to. "You said you'd help me and now you're a higher rank than me." He shook his head. "I knew you weren't going to be okay and I still let you go." He felt more hot tears streak down his face. "You aren't there to make me feel safe anymore, Maes. I'll have to do it on my own." Finally bringing himself to move away from the late Brigadier General's grave, Roy hugged his arms around his body. He would tell the duo in the car it was because it was just so darn cold out while he hid his real motives.

Trying to duplicate the feel of Maes' arms around him was quite futile, wasn't it?

'It was worth a try.' Mustang thought to himself as he got to the car, breaking down into more sobs that shook his entire frame.

* * *

**A/N:** _And that is how I believe that day played out for Mustang. Thank you so much for taking the time to read, feedback would be much appriciated. Special thanks to my buddy, Erbby for helping out so much with the plot points and proofing of this story, go to my profile, her link is on there. Thanks so much!! X3_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB ((KyosBeads13))_


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